Binder



.Au g. 13, 1957 E. A. FILLING BINDER Filed Sept. 27, 1954 INVENTORK EUGENE AP/LL/NG ATT'Y United States Patent 6) BINDER Eugene A. Pilling, Chicago, llll.

Application September 27, 1954, SerialN-o. 458,517 1"Claim. 01; 129-25 "Ihisinventionmelates, in general to a binder for loose sheets, booklets, and the like, and is more particularly described as a coil spring binder for flexibly engaging sheets or pamphlets and releasably binding them in a cover.

Binders having oppositely extending and interengaging spring portions with outer headed ends are commonly used in binding sheets, booklets, pamphlets and the like, together and in suitable covers or holders.

The present invention provides a single coiled spring as each binding element having headed extremities, one of which is releasably engaged by a clamping device so that the mounting of these binders in a backing or cover is much simpler and takes much less time than to thread oppositely extending parts together, and also it is much more simple to remove sheets or pamphlets from such a binder, and also to add them to a backing or cover when it is desired to do so.

An important object of the invention is to provide a sheet and pamphlet binder comprising a flexible spring wire closely wound to provide a head at one end and a reduced portion with a smaller head at the other end, so that it can be inserted through two opposite holes of a book cover or back binder and the smaller end engaged with a clamping plate to hold it in place.

A further object of the invention is to provide a single flexible wire binder having a resilient stern portion with an integral head at one end and a reduced headed extremity at the'other end all composed of a single piece of wire.

A further object of the invention is to provide a one piece resilient spring binder which has an integral flexible head at one end and a reduced neck and head at the other end adapted for engagement at the opposite outside edges of a book cover or holder so that sheets or pamphlets can be added or withdrawn from the holder by the disengagement of a single binder element at each point of connection.

Other objects of the invention will appear in the specification and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which,

Fig. l is a perspective view of a book binder in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the binder units shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the coiled spring binder members; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing a pair of telescoping binder springs for releasably fastening a plurality of sheets or pamphlets together.

In many of the looseleaf binders now commonly used, the actual binding units comprise headed members with the other ends telescoping one within the other and threaded together.

In the present invention, this construction is much improved by making the members of flexible coiled wire which telescope one into the other andtogether form a resilient wire binding unit which may be flexed or bent at an, angle to, their common axis for spreadingthe leaves apart whentheleaves of a book are opened flatly or spread apart.

In the present invention, a, single wire binding unit is provided with a stem 10 of closely and uniformly wound turns which extends from a flexible head 12of sprially wound wire at the end forming a flat head at right angles to the axis of the stem but the head being yieldable in both directions from the end of the stem: This head is preferably formed as an integral extension of-the wire at this end.

At the otherend of the stem, the wire is more closely wound upon a smaller axis to provide, a reduced neck 14and at the outer endof the neck there, is, an enlarged turn 16, theneck and" this turn being an integral con tinuation of the stern portion of the wire, the neck being smaller in diameter but tightly wound, being somewhat less resilient and does not bend so easily.

In applying these binder units, to a supporting back 18 or to such a back attached to a cover 20, the back is provided with perforations each having a metal eyelet 22 secured therein for best results, the inner opening of the eyelet being suflicient to admit the stem 10 of the binder unit freely therethrough and also to admit the enlarged turn 16 at one end. The spiral head abuts the outside of the back 18 and the neck 14 is inserted through the eyelet 22 at the other side of the back 18 so that the enlarged turn 16 projects slightly beyond the outside of this edge of the back.

Pivoted to one side of the back 18 is a clamping plate having a slot 26 therein sufiiciently wide to embrace the reduced neck 14 of the binding unit and the slot being curved about a rivet 28 as a center which connects the plate to the back 18. At opposite sides of the slot 26 are ribs 30 struck outwardly therefrom and adapted to engage the outer enlarged turn 16 at the end of the binding unit to hold it more firmly in place.

With this construction, each binding unit may be separately disengaged by rotating its clamping plate outwardly as shown in Fig. 2 and the binding unit may be removed or partially removed for the addition or removal of sheets or pamphlets from the back or cover and when such sheets are added, the binding units are easily inserted through holes provided therein and through the other side of the back or cover whereupon the clamping plate is rotated to engage the reduced neck and to seat the enlarged turn 16 in the bottom of the slot 26.

Instead of requiring a back or cover, a pair of binders 32 and 34 may be made of flexible closely wound wire having radially extending integral heads 36 and 38 respectively and these binders are of a relative size so that one may be inserted and threaded within the other to provide a simple means for engaging a number of sheets 40 therebetween, the heads and the stems of the binders being sufficiently flexible so that they may be jointly bent or flexed in a curve along their joint axis. To expand the binding, they are threaded apart, and to contract the binding, they are threaded more closely together.

By making the binding units of spirally wound wire, they are quickly and inexpensively produced by automatic machines and need no threading or shaping by expensive tooling operations. The binding units are quickly and easily applied to supporting backs and covers of different sizes and shapes and the ends are tightly engaged so that each unit has a limited endwise expansion and also may be bent in a curve extending along the axis.

While preferred forms of the invention have been described in some detail, they should be regarded as illustrations or examples rather than as limitations or restrictions of the invention, since various changes in the construction, combination and arrangements of parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim: v s

i In a binder for a plurality of perforated loosesheets, a back having foldable spaced supporting flaps with perforations corresponding to those of the inserted sheets, a plurality of resilient binder posts insertable through the corresponding perforations of the opposite flaps and through the perforation of any sheets between the flaps, each post comprising a flexible spirally wound wire stem having an integral flat spiral head at one end larger than the perforations in the flaps for engaging the outer side of one flap when the stem is inserted therethrough, the stern having a reduced spirally Wound. neck portion with an outer enlarged turn not larger in diameter than the stem integrally formed of the same Wire at the other end of the binder and adapted to extend through the per for'ations of any interposed sheets and through the perforations of the flaps, and clamping means comprising a plate pivoted on the outside of the flap opposite the first mentioned flap and having a curved slot therein, the slot being of a width to engage the reduced neck portion of the binder and the enlarged turn at the end of the binder engaging outside of the curved slot of the clamping plate and for holding this end of the binder post against movement inwardly of the flap.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,437,329 Wilburger Nov. 28, 1922 1,836,979 Light Dec. 15, 1931 2,500,322 Pilling Mar. 14, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 22,524 Great Britain a 1914 

